Plenty of Ratings Pain to Go Around: ‘American Idol’ Slips, Key ABC Series Hits Season Low and NBC Winds Up in Sixth Place

Fox’s “American Idol” slipped in the ratings from its premiere, based on Nielsen overnights for Wednesday night, while ABC’s “Modern Family” fell to a season low, TVbytheNumbers.com reports.

“Idol” settled for a 5.4 average rating in the key 18-49 demo, down 10% from the premiere a week ago. Fox still easily won the night.

ABC saw “Modern Family” tumble 5% to a season-low 4.1 in viewers 18-49 — still good enough to rank No. 2 for the night behind “Idol.” ABC’s “The Middle” was up 9% from a week ago to a 5.4 and “The Neighbors” rose 6% to a 1.9, while “Suburgatory” held steady with a 2.3 and “Nashville” drooped 18% to a 1.8.

CBS’s “CSI” rolled to a season high, climbing 17% from last week to a 2.7 average in 18-49. “Criminal Minds” was up 3% to a 3.0. CBS aired a repeat of “Criminal Minds” in the 8 p.m. hour, settling for a 1.5.

NBC aired an all-repeat lineup and found itself in sixth place for the night, behind both Univision and CW.

Fox’s 5.4 average rating for prime time led the way in the 18-49 demo, followed by ABC (2.4), CBS (2.4), Univision (1.6), CW (1.0) and NBC (0.8). Fox also led in total viewers with an average of 16.0 million to CBS’s 10.0 million, ABC’s 7.1 million, Univision’s 3.8 million, CW’s 2.6 million and NBC’s 2.6 million.